Join us Thursday March 7 from 6-9pm at N&P for a

BRIXTON / INDEPENDENT TRUCKS  Friendly Union release party with a
Photo Exhibition by TOBIN YELLAND .

After-party with our friends @drugdealer at @cafedunord.

See you there!

Needles & Pens presents

BS SHOW TWO

a bumper sticker show curated by Crystal Quinn

Featuring work by:
Rachel Howe, Eric Timothy Carlson, Aaron Anderson, Maddy Nye, Clay Hickson, Nathaniel Russell, Crystal Quinn, and Loren Purcell

8 artists make a bumper sticker in a limited-edition of 125 each. We have an art show displaying them. We sell them to you for $10 each.

Opening reception Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 from 6-9 pm.

*Stickers will be available for sale online after the show opening.

All works from the Isaac Lin – Alignment show are now available for purchase online HERE. 

Needles & Pens presents,

ALIGNMENT a solo show by ISAAC LIN

Opens Saturday October 6, 2018 from 6-9:00 PM

Isaac Lin will be presenting a mix of new + older mixed media works. The artist describes his work this way: In general, sky phenomenon and nature inspire me. My calligraphic lines usually represent my version of camouflage and recently I have been thinking about them as invisible shapes filling the air. ‘Alignment’ refers to the desire or lack of desire to relate/connect with something bigger/outside ourselves and the feeling of being confronted by the unfathomable. It’s also a question of identity and how to represent myself

– – – –

Bio: Isaac Tin Wei Lin explores the realm where representation and buzzing abstraction meet. His surfaces are often densely covered in calligraphic, brushed and hand-drawn patterns that express both the logic and complexity of written language. Cartoon figures, often in the form of cats and dogs, make appearances, sometimes as larger-than-life-size cut-outs covered in pattern themselves. Working across painting, screenprinting, collage and installation, Lin also collaborates with other artists and photographers in creating hybrid works.

Lin has has been commissioned to paint several large-scale murals, including three for Mural Arts Philadelphia, and a multi-story stairway mural for Facebook’s headquarters in San Francisco. He has had solo exhibitions at the Asian Arts Initiative, the Print Center, Fleisher/Ollman, and Gallery 543 at URBN (all in Philadelphia); Park Life, Queen’s Nails Annex, Woodward Flats (all in San Francisco); and Lamp Harajuku, Tokyo. Lin participated with the DFW collective in Arts Le Havre, 2012 Contemporary Art Biennial, France. He has been featured in group exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Institute of Contemporary Art, Fleisher/Ollman, Painted Bride Arts Center, and the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art (all in Philadelphia); the Hole, Bravin Lee, and Franklin Parrasch (all in New York); MASS Gallery, Austin; Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, among others. His work is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Berkeley Art Museum, and the Free Library of Philadelphia. He is an alumnus of Philadelphia’s artist collective Space 102

*Works courtesy of Fliescher/Ollman Gallery

More information on the artist: http://www.isaactinweilin.com

Needles & Pens presents,
a zine release and solo show
“Shook” by Tim Lahan
Opening Reception 6-9:00 pm
Saturday, September 8, 2018
at Needles & Pens

*Shook the zine, published by & Pens Press, is being released in conjunction with the show. It’s a 24 page, oversized, full color zine comprised of Tim Lahan’s zig-zag series of work. The zine contains 20 images Lahan’s of humorous and light-hearted full color works contained in an 8×10 full color zine. Edition of 300 copies.

Available for preorder now on our site – click here.

Needles & Pens presents,
ANXY Magazine
release party / show

Opening Reception:
Thursday, August 16th 2018,
from 7:00 – 9:00 PM

“LINES WE DRAW“
Exploring our relationship to personal space through stories, art and photography.
Photography by: Kendrick Brinson, Aundre Larrow, Jessica Chou, Paola de Grenet, and Marylise Vigneau; Artwork by: Merijn Hos, Miguel Arzabe, Maria Medem, Ruohan Wang, cut.tear, and Najeebah Al-Ghadban.
Anxy is a magazine that artfully pairs personal narratives around mental health with striking photography, fine art and illustration. Highlighting visuals from the latest issue, LINES WE DRAW explores the nuanced boundaries we create emotionally, psychologically and physically through color, contrast and composition. From glamorous photographs of “Paris by Night,” the variety show that bridges generations of Vietnamese-Americans, to artwork depicting the haunting walls of silence between family members, each artist visually interprets our relationship to personal space in ways that words cannot. You can learn about Anxy here – https://anxymag.com/

flyer image by Brigid Dawson
image by Shayde Sartin

Needles & Pens presents,
a two person show featuring the works of
Brigid Dawson & Shayde Sartin
Opening reception Saturday June 16th, 6-9pm
with musical guest: Reds, Pinks and Purples

Brigid Dawson (Ohsees) and Shayde Sartin (Fresh and Onlys) are veterans of the San Francisco music scene. Instead of being on stage making sounds, on this rare occasion, the two will be showing mixed media visual artworks in the gallery at Needles & Pens. Dawson last exhibited in 2012 with her newly sold out show of painted tambourines entitled Dedicated to Dear Earholes. This show is sure to be great.

Art Party: Primo Pitino & Jonathan Casella
Opens Saturday, March 17th @ N&P

Opening Saturday February 3, 2018 from 6-9pm,
PAINTING SHOW
A three-person show with works by:
Ry Fyan, Kristy Luck, and Jean Nagai

Opening Saturday November 4th, 2017 from 6-9 PM,
The Jaunt, a print exhibition of artists traveling the world while finding inspiration along the way.

Featuring prints by: Evan Hecox, Jean Jullien, Laura Berger, Collin van der Sluijs, Joram Roukes, David Shillinglaw, Kristin Texeira,Louis Reith, Nigel Peake, Daniel Frost, Morcky, Amanda Marie, The Things We Are, Lennard Kok, Scott Albrecht, AKACorleone, Graphic Surgery, Andrea Wan, Erosie, Miss Lotion, Saša Ostoja

More information about the Jaunt HERE.

On display through Nov. 11.

COMING SOON:

Work by Jessica Hans

SCULP
A seven person sculpture show featuring the work of: Alexandre Bavard (paris), Ethan Caflisch (oakland), Damien Hoar de Galvan (boston), Matt Gil (san francisco), Karin Hagen (stockholm), Jessica Hans (philadelphia), and Paul Simmons (brooklyn).

Opening Friday September 29, 2017 from 6-9 PM
 
On display through the month of October.

Atelier Pica Pica + Henry Fey
Opening Reception Friday July 28, 2017 from 7pm-10pm
On display through August

When I see people making ‘abstract’ painting, I think it’s just a dialogue and a dialogue isn’t enough. That is to say, there is you painting and this canvas. I think there has to be a third thing; it has to be a trialogue. Many works of the past, and of the present, complete what they announce they are going to do, to our increasing boredom. Certain others plague me because I cannot follow their intentions. I can tell at a glance what Fabritius is doing, but I am spending my life trying to find out what Rembrandt was up to. Painting and sculpture are very archaic forms. It’s the only thing left in our industrial society where an individual alone can make something with not just his own hands, but brains, imagination, heart maybe.– Philip Guston

About the artists:
Henry Fey was born in Los Angeles in the 90s and has recently graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute. He has been featured in a solo art show at Good Mother Gallery in Oakland, California. Fey utilizes cut-outs and sketches, both digital and on paper which result in a layered process seen on his paintings. His work explores calligraphy and cartoons in conjunction with two-dimensional abstract painting, as a tool to add symbolism in abstraction.

Atelier Pica Pica is Boris Magotteaux (1978), Manuel Falcata (1979) and Jerome Degive (1980), all born and raised in Liege, Belgium. The collective has a very distinct, personal and yet somehow obvious universe. You will, provided you’ve kept somewhat of your inner child, be simply marveled by their simple constructions and colors. What seems simple at first, is in fact the result of a collection of multiple references and different techniques. Through photography, sculpture and painting, Atelier Pica Pica develops a very personal alphabet. A shape, subject or color skips from an art work or medium to the next with absolute fluidity and coherence. The sculptures influence the paintings that influence the photography and vice-versa. The three artists from Atelier Pica Pica produce all the paintings, drawings, photographs and installations.

Needles & Pens presents,

Three-way Ticket

a trio show featuring,

Søren Behncke, Liz Schmidt, & Michael Swaney

Opening Reception: Friday June 30, 2017, from 6:00 – 9:00 P.M.

Three-way Ticket, defines contemporary figurative painting into three categories: figurative painting with traditional oil painting influence, presented by Liz Yoshiko Schmidt (San Francisco), figurative painting with illustrative influence presented by Søren Behncke (Aarhus), and figurative painting with art brut influence presented by Michael Swaney (Barcelona). These three contemporary accounts define figurative painting today.

Liz Yoshiko Schmidt is a Japanese American painter born in Chicago, Illinois. Schmidt lives and works in San Francisco, California, and is currently studying at the San Francisco Art Institute, finishing her bachelors of fine arts in painting. Her paintings are figurative depictions of her colleagues and friends, her studio, and the still-life objects in her workspace. Schmidt picks out consciously and sometimes sub-consciously her subject matter and the objects in her studio environment that she wishes to paint. She creates an autobiographical environment that is full of posters, her own paintings, her materials, and mirrors in which her reflection appears. She paints as a way of documenting herself, the individuals and the environment around her. Liz Yoshiko Schmidt is also an international professional figure skater.

Micheal Swaney was born in Canada and is based in Barcelona. In 2000 he graduated with an Illustration and Design diploma from Capilano University in Vancouver and has showed his works around North America and Europe since then. He makes paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures and quilts and is inspired by everything that occurs on the margins of society and academia, creating his own language form that builds on an Art Brut background. The imagery in his work mixes abstraction and figuration.

Søren Behncke (Papfar) is a danish sculptor and painter, born May 9, 1967 in Sønderborg, Denmark. He moved to Aarhus at the age of seventeen. Søren Behncke has a background as an illustrator and graphic designer, but changed his focus in 2003, and began to work with sculpture and painting instead. Behncke does both gallery-oriented works, and sculptural happenings and actions in public spaces. Inspired by the architecture students’ use of cardboard and glue guns for their model building, he makes works of discarded papers he collects from the neighborhood around the changing mini studio at home and abroad. His choice of material not only keeps production costs to a minimum, but the rich packaging universe of warning signs and logos has become an integrated and unique feature in Behncke’s visual language. In Denmark, Behncke is best known under the alias ‘Papfar’ because of its spectacular happenings and staging of cardboard sculptures in the public space. Among his works is a sculpture of a Massey Ferguson tractor in the size 1: 1, a cardboard rabbit tied to a tree, various tools in cardboard, and a tribute to Jørgen Nash in the form of a 4m long papers in front of the Little Mermaid . In 2005, he smashed a man-made cardboard snake bush to the giant Boy at the Aros Aarhus Art Museum, which three years later officially invited him to a solo show in the West Gallery. He has since added another identity to the list of aliases – namely the “Posemanden”, which is the name he uses when the woven or embroidered images with strips of plastic bag into the wire fence.

On display in the gallery through July 31, 2017.
(*image by Søren Behncke)

All works from Mark DeLong’s Stars Above, Snakes Below show are now available to purchase online HERE. Dig in! Get the book over at & Pens Press or in-store at N&P.

Needles & Pens presents,
Stars Above, Snakes Below
a book launch and exhibition by
Mark DeLong

Opening Reception:
Saturday April 15, 2017 from 6:00 – 9:00 P.M.

Currently living and working in Vancouver, B.C., Mark DeLong produces works in a variety of media, including sculpture, painting, drawing, and video. DeLong has exhibited in 11 countries and is a prolific explorer of unconventional mediums and materials. In his current body of work, he’s assembled intricate folk art looking collage tapestries using simple cotton thread and recycled produce boxes. & Pens Press has compiled a large selection of these works in it’s latest publication entitled Stars Above, Snakes Below. Gallery exhibition will feature works from the book.

DeLong will be in attendance for the opening reception.
On display through May 27, 2017.

Opening Saturday Feb. 18 from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

NEXT by Rich Jacobs and Sergej Vutuc.
An art installation of xerox copy, raw texture experiments, photos, zines, sound, and the usual random chaos.

*PLUS, special guest PUSH PERIODICAL to release the sixth issue of their great travel heavy arty skate photo zine the same night.
On display through March 2017.

Needles & Pens presents,

Morning Workout
an exhibition of ink drawings on paper and vellum by
Russ Pope

Opening Reception, Saturday, November 12, 2016 from 6:30 – 9:00 P.M.

“…These drawings, made in the morning with music and coffee, are my morning stretches or workouts.”

Coming to N&P Wednesday, October 26th from 6-8pm – The Radical Mycology Book tour with Peter McCoy!
Fungi (i.e. mushrooms, yeasts, lichens, molds) are everywhere around us, forming symbioses with all plants and animals, and performing critical roles that keep complex ecological webs intact. And yet, most people are completely unaware of the incredible and ubiquitous nature of the Fungal Kingdom. In this part presentation, part mushroom roadshow, author Peter McCoy will present many means for dispelling this paradox. From the ecological importance of mushrooms and other fungi, to their rich history with human cultures around the world, to the increasingly profound potential for mushroom cultivation to address a range of pressing global issues, this special event will take you deep into the fungal realm. The result just may change the way you look at fungi, and the world at large. **This event is FREE!!**

Needles & Pens presents,

Shapes in Space by Lena Wolff
an exhibition of collages, drawings, prints and a wood wall sculpture.

Opening Reception, Saturday October 8, 2016 from 6:30 – 8:30 P.M.

With musical performance by Hazy Loper, and a few songs by Ivy Jeanne, Stormy Knight, Daniela Sea, & Alicia McCarthy

Lena Wolff is a San Francisco-Bay Area artist whose work extends out of craft and folk art traditions, while at the same time being grounded in the modern and contemporary movements of minimalism, geometric abstraction, Op art and feminist practice. Her new show Shapes in Space at Needles & Pens presents paper collages, wood wall sculpture and print editions that fluctuate between patterns from nature and the lines of geometric abstraction found in American quilts, forming an interplay of repeated interconnected cosmic symbols.

Wolff is a long-time Bay Area resident who has been a part of the arts community here for over 25 years. She has exhibited at Headlands Center for the Arts, Southern Exposure, CULT / Aimee Frieberg Exhibitions, Traywick Contemporary, Dominican University, Adobe Books and New Image Arts, among other spaces. Her work is in the collections of the One Archive, The San Francisco Arts Commission, The Alameda County Arts Commission, Facebook, The Cleveland Clinic, The University of Iowa Museum and The Zuckerman Museum of Art, among others. In 2018, Wolff will be an artist-in-residence at the De Young Museum. She lives with her wife Miriam Klein Stahl, artist and illustrator of the children’s books Rad American Women A-Z and Rad Women Worldwide, with their daughter Hazel in Berkeley, California.

Needles & Pens presents,
Original paper cuts by
Miriam Klein Stahl
from her upcoming book
RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE
by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl
Published by 10 Speed Press

Opening Reception September 10th, 2016 from 6:30-8:30PM
On Display through October 2, 2016

About Rad Women Worldwide:
From the authors of the New York Times bestselling book Rad American Women A-Z, comes a bold new collection of 40 biographical profiles, each accompanied by a striking illustrated portrait, showcasing extraordinary women from around the world.

In Rad Women Worldwide, writer Kate Schatz and artist Miriam Klein Stahl tell fresh, engaging, and inspiring tales of perseverance and radical success by pairing well researched and riveting biographies with powerful and expressive cut-paper portraits. Featuring an array of diverse figures from Hatshepsut (the great female king who ruled Egypt peacefully for two decades) and Malala Yousafzi (the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize) to Poly Styrene (legendary teenage punk and lead singer of X-Ray Spex) and Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft (polar explorers and the first women to cross Antarctica), this progressive and visually arresting book is a compelling addition to women’s history.

Praise:
“Imagine learning history right the first time, without ever having to unlearn all the lies and omissions. RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE lifts the doom—maybe this is, in fact, a wonderful time to grow up.”
—Miranda July, artist, writer, and filmmaker

“This book needs to be in every school, library, and home.”
—Margaret Cho, comedian